Dorset chef back at work two years after St Lucia stroke

Carly and Brett Sutton run the White Post Inn which straddles the Dorset-Somerset border

A chef who suffered a near-fatal stroke while on a Caribbean holiday has returned to work in his restaurant kitchen.

Brett Sutton fell ill on arrival in St Lucia in March 2022 with his now wife, Carly.

Friends and customers at their restaurant on the Dorset-Somerset border raised £11,000 towards his medical repatriation.

The 50-year-old said the support from the community had been "humbling".

The couple recalled how the pandemic had been a "rough time" for the hospitality trade and in March 2022 they had travelled to St Lucia for their first holiday since lockdown.

However, they had only just arrived in their resort when he began to feel unwell and collapsed.

"It all went belly up," he said, adding: "I don't remember much about it. My legs felt wobbly and my face didn't feel right."

He was eventually taken to hospital where doctors found he had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke.

Brett Sutton spent four weeks in hospital in St Lucia

Despite initially being warned he may only survive for a matter of days, his condition did improve - although remained serious.

While trying to look after her partner in a foreign hospital, Mrs Sutton was also concerned about the restaurant at home - the White Post at Rimpton, near Sherborne.

"We needed to open up for Mother's Day and we didn't want to let people down, so in the evening I was going online and arranging menus and staffing," she said.

With health insurance not covering a medical evacuation, the couple turned to crowd funding.

Friends, family and customers raised more than £11,000 towards a flight home, accompanied by a doctor.

"It was crazy," Mr Sutton said.

"It's really, really humbling to have support from people who we've cooked for for years."

With most of his left side paralysed to begin with, Mr Sutton said he had to "train my body to work again".

"There was lots of mental and physical repair," he added.

"There were moments, and still are now, when I couldn't remember how to do stuff - there is a complete block."

The couple eventually got married in 2023

Friends in the industry had helped keep the gastro-pub going - the building uniquely straddles the county border, with one end of the bar in Dorset and the other in Somerset.

Despite considering putting the business on the market as the "sensible thing to do", they kept going - to the point where Mr Sutton was ready to return to work in the kitchen, alongside his son Callum.

"It's great to be back and the feedback has been amazing," Mr Sutton said.

"I've got to chill more, take days off and separate work and play, and get that work-life balance. I need to take brain breaks."

The pair eventually got married after Brett popped the question from his hospital bed, and they tied the knot at Gretna Green in Scotland in 2023.

For anyone going through a similar experience, Mr Sutton said: "Persevere, believe, work hard, don't give up, surround yourself with people you love and care for."

Haemorrhagic strokes

• Haemorrhagic strokes (also known as cerebral haemorrhages or intracranial haemorrhages) happen when a blood vessel inside the skull bursts and bleeds into and around the brain.

• They are less common than ischaemic strokes which are caused by blood clots starving the brain of oxygen

• The main cause is high blood pressure, which can weaken the arteries in the brain and make them more likely to split or rupture

• Haemorrhagic strokes can also be caused by the rupture of a balloon-like expansion of a blood vessel (brain aneurysm) or abnormally formed blood vessels in the brain.

• It's possible to significantly reduce your risk of having a stroke by making lifestyle changes to avoid problems such as atherosclerosis and high blood pressure.

Source: NHS

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